Dragonaut: The Resonance

Title: Dragonaut: The Resonance Genre: Fantasy, Mecha, Romance Rating: 4/10

Summary: In order to avoid Earth's impending destruction from an asteroid, the International Solarsystem Development Agency (ISDA) works on the "D-Project", and creates dragons after finding a dragon egg under the ocean. However, they soon find out that the asteroid is not their only threat, as powerful dragon-like creatures appear on Earth. After witnessing a murder by one of the creatures, Jin Kamishina gets involved in the mysteries of the dragons and becomes a dragon pilot, otherwise known as a "Dragonaut". Helping him on his journey is Toa, a mysterious girl who saves him from falling to his death after the creature attacks him. As they delve deeper into the mysteries of the dragons, they encounter new friends and enemies, and also begin to develop a closer relationship.

Review: A single word to describe this anime: let down. Okay maybe that was two, but you get the picture. I first picked up Dragonaut: The Resonance when I saw the ad on a webcomic website. I figured, “Why not” right? The first couple episodes were the typical mysterious anime that probably wont piece together till the end. A mysterious pink haired girl, a strange organization, and the main character’s melancholy past were all ingredients for a typical anime. So needless to say my expectations weren’t very high, but I decided to keep watching. Around episode 4 I started to get tired. The strange plot twist felt very forced, and I quickly lost interest in any hints of mystery that were left. The dialogue for this anime was atrocious. To match the corny storyline, was the equally, if not worse, dialogue. I remember watching the final episode and cringing, wishing I could rewrite the script. The romance was laid on very thick. There was no real progression, or signs of true struggle. It was at though the producer wanted a heart warming anime, but ended up taking it too far. I am a fan of romance animes, but this one made me nauseous as it spoon fed me heaps of lovey-dovey-cutesy-cuddly goo. The art wasn’t too my liking either. It was fine at first, a very stereotypical anime with proper shading and bold lines. However, the mecha were done using computer graphics. The graphics didn’t fit the backgrounds or foregrounds at all. The obvious clash in style really crashed the animation all together. The soundtrack on the other hand was very fitting. The opening and ending theme songs were pleasant to listen to. Which is all I can say for the soundtrack, but in comparison to the rest of the anime it deserved a standing ovation.

Final statements: A heavy push toward action romance that just didn’t work out. At first it had potential to be average if not slightly above average. Dragonaut: The Resonance went quickly downhill unfortunately and didn’t quite make it back up. The series is also rather long (25 episodes) and I wouldn’t bother wasting my time on it. So for anyone who was curious about this anime I would avoid watching it.